Self-propelled vehicles or other machines such as self-propelled or riding lawn mowers, snow-throwers, and lawn or garden tractors are known. Electric drive systems for such vehicles or machines typically employ an automatic fail-safe or parking brake in association with each electric drive motor which drives one or more axles.
It would be advantageous to be able to release the fail-safe brake(s) to allow the vehicle to be towed or otherwise moved, e.g. for servicing the vehicle, when it is not in operation or the batteries are discharged. In particular, it would be advantageous to be able to simultaneously release both brakes in a dual transaxle application such as a zero-turn lawn mower.